Lew on Lew
Born in Glen Cove, New York in 1946. Attended the Lionel Train School for Spoiled Children, Levittown, NY. from 1954 through 1957. Received a BFA in 1968 from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and a MFA in 1972 from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. Before joining the School of Art faculty at Arizona State University in 1984, he taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and Edinboro State University in western Pennsylvania. He was an Artist in Residence at The Exploratorium in San Francisco in 1985-86 and received an NEA Fellowship in 1986. Alquist's work was featured in the 1987 Phoenix Biennial. He has had one person exhibitions at: Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale; Weber State University, Ogden Utah; Diverseworks, Houston; University of Texas, El Paso; Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago and Scottsdale Center for the Arts. He served on the board of the International Sculpture Center (ISC) in Washington DC. from 1992 through 1995. From 1984 to 2005 he was professor in the School of Art at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. There he taught graduate and undergraduate levels of sculpture and film animation.
posted by Lew's friend Fran at 6:58 PM
8 Comments:
Fran I thought I may try and use this again
Lew's work that was on display at the Paper Heart Gallery with Jeff Falk and Annie Lopez will come down this Thur. There is a show of work planned at the ASU student (grad)gallery for Feb 2006 I think the opening will be the 6th it will have word done by some of the many students he taught here in the lasat 20 years.
THINGS WE LIKED TO DO WITH LEW
1.Eat dinner.
2.Eat lunch.
3.Drink a little coffee.
4.Go on hikes.
5.Dredge up really strange ideas
and laugh about them.
6.Go on car trips.
7.Visit tourist traps and
really odd places.
8.Go to the store.
9.Sit around talking.
10.Watch people and make up stuff
about them. Laugh.
11.Talk about Werner Von Braun.
12.Look at bugs, flowers,etc.
13.Listen to really odd music
CD's(tubas,yodeling,polka)and
have them turned up really
loud.
14.Walk around anywhere.
15.Enjoy the presence of each
others company.
THINGS WE HATED TO DO WITH LEW
1. Say goodby.
2. Wonder why we never told him
we loved him enough.
I was searching the net trying to reach Lew Alquist, when I came upon the announcement of his death. My intension was to ask Lew, if he had any sculpture students he would recommend for a teaching position at the University of West Florida. Lew and I go back years, to our college days at Florida Atlantic. My fondest memory of Lew is riding with him on his scooter, looking for pinball machine parts to incorporate in his kinetic sculpture! I have rarely seen Lew since those innocent days, but I have thought of him often with great fondness. My deepest condolences to his wife, Jane. --Suzette Doyon, Art Department Chair, UWF, Pensacola
I recall Lew well because of his time at the Exploratorium--I was his technician/welder in creating "Fickle Oracle."
The whole process started when Lew went to the shipyards here in the San Francisco bay area and brought back two giant air scoops from a freighter; I couldn't believe the size of those scoops! Our job was then to create a mercury mirror which we then 1) protected in a stainless and glass enclosure and then smoothly rotated to produce a mirror of variable length.
I was just trying to find Lew to ask him about making a little art for one of my clients and ran across notice of his death. He is and will be missed for a long, long time. Lew was a nice guy and a clever artist. (Remember Fan Dangle-very funny and striking work.)
Joe Ansel
www.anselinc.com
Thanks Joe. He was extremely proud
of Fickle Oracle and its technical challenges overcome. I'm sure you had
much to do with that.
The funny story about Fan Dangle: Lew's mother saw that piece and said
to Lew, "What would POSSESS someone to make something like that?" She
apparently glared at him. Lew loved to tell that story as an endorsement
that he must be doing something right!
I remember Lew so well -- and was saddened to hear of his death. I go back as far as Suzette Doyon (Florida Atlantic University). Odd the way death seems to bring its own connection. Just heard about the death a couple of days ago of our painting prof. Claire Dorst and then I heard about Lew.
Fran are you still active in this post. I know you moved and would like to share some new information with you.
Jane
jpleak@georgiasouthern.edu
I am doing the final specs on the Lew Alquist award.
Hope all is well.
I am thinking about Lew right now. And about his piece that was a green spinning baby bed that was filled with a milk-like liquid. I didn't know him well, but I liked what I saw.
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